Association of PNC, BC, and PM 2.5 Measured at a Central Monitoring Site with Blood Pressure in a Predominantly Near Highway Population

Mei Chung, Ding Ding Wang, Amanda M. Rizzo, Darrel Gachette, Marie Delnord, Ron Parambi, Choong-Min Kang and Doug Brugge
Additional contact information
Mei Chung: The Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02111, USA
Ding Ding Wang: The Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02111, USA
Amanda M. Rizzo: Tufts University School of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, College of Liberal Arts, Medford, MA 02145, USA
Darrel Gachette: Tufts University School of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, College of Liberal Arts, Medford, MA 02145, USA
Marie Delnord: INSERM U1153, Obstetrical, Perinatal and Pediatric Epidemiology Research Team, Research Center for Epidemiology and Biostatistics Sorbonne Paris Cité (CRESS), Paris Descartes University, Paris 75270, France
Ron Parambi: Institute for Relevant Clinical Data Analytics (IRCDA), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Choong-Min Kang: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Doug Brugge: The Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02111, USA

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: Elevated blood pressure is an indicator of cardiovascular stress and increased risk of cardiovascular-related morbidity and mortality. There is emerging evidence suggesting air pollutants, including particulate matter (PM), could promote hypertension, thereby increasing cardiovascular disease risk. Repeated measurement analyses were conducted to examine the associations of three types of PM with systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and pulse pressure (PP) in 220 participants, (mean age = 58.5 years) from the Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health study (CAFEH), most of whom live near a major highway. Ambient levels of air pollutants including particle number concentration (PNC; a measure of ultrafine particle (UFP) concentration), fine PM (PM 2.5 , Particle diameter <2.5 µm), and black carbon (BC) were measured at a central site <7 km from the study areas. Central sites are good at capturing short-term temporal trends in pollution associated with meteorological changes over regional areas. Linear mixed-effect models that accounted for repeated measures within one person were used to examine the associations between blood pressure variables and daily average of ambient PNC, PM 2.5 , or BC, controlling for demographic characteristics and major confounders including temperature. Our PNC model predicted that a higher PNC of 10,000 particles/cm 3 was associated with higher DBP of 2.40 mmHg ( p = 0.03), independent of other factors in the model. There were no significant associations for PM 2.5 or BC. Post hoc subgroup analyses by obesity status showed that positive associations of DBP with PNC were more pronounced among obese individuals than non-obese individuals. These results suggested that PNC levels are associated with increased blood pressure, which may contribute to cardiovascular disease risk. More research is needed to assess the relationship between PNC and blood pressure and to address possible residual confounding.

Keywords: fine particulate matter; black carbon; ultrafine particles; blood pressure; acute (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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